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Wow so my daughter has got through her first half term at School and more to the point – I have got through her first half term. The juggling child care and work is always an interesting concept for any Mum and while being a designer certainly gives me flexibility it is odd now I am back at my desk 5 days a week.

I’ve got a fresh new office to work in #brightgreen to brighten things up and I’m loving getting to catch up again at networking events.

September and October saw two very busy months for Brandall as I worked freelancing within another company for 3 days a week. All good.

Morning campers….
Well it is shocking to believe we are in the middle of May, I am still hoping for another hot one repeated for this Bank Holiday.

Life is good and busy. If you are on Twitter come along and join in with #andoverhour every week on Wednesday’s at 7.30-8.30pm. If you have never heard of ‘hours’ on twitter it is a chance for to follow a hash tag and join in with likeminded people.
It is time to promote, interact and gain more followers.

Just Curry Andover is also going well and hard to believe in a few months we will have been running almost a year. With a few regulars and new faces each month it is well attended as people like the casualness of it.
For those that haven’t heard of it, contact me to come along. You only pay for what you eat.

Good morning to all our bloggers out there – it has been sometime since I have logged in. No excuses – the usual things really, having a baby and running a business has been a journey (a good one of course).

It has been a busy 18 months but my feet are touching the ground again now and enjoying getting 5 minutes to concentrate ON my business not IN IT which is lovely. Starting to concentrate on building contacts again but in a slightly different area and closer to home.

Looking forward to Spring and seeing some sunshine, it has been a long winter with our lack of summer last year. Feeling really positive and focused.

Your brochure is an essential business tool and should run seamlessly with your website promoting the same messages and following the same brand look. It should reflect your expertise, professionalism and shout about the quality of your product or service(s) as well as being eye catching and captivating to effectively promote your company.

There is a lot to consider to get all the elements to work together so here are some tips to get your brochure started.

Identify the brochures purpose before you start

Think about what your brochure will be used for as an end purpose – advertising a new product or range of products, information about your services, a postal mailer with general information or a handout for a talk or event.

Keep the text simple and in plain language

You know what you do inside out, BUT your clients – new or existing need information in simple terms with no jargon to make easy reading. This is where you could use a copywriter to assist in creating your message.

Stick to information that won’t change frequently

Steer away from including stats and dates as they are likely to become out of date quickly, this will add an expiry date to the brochure and unless you are producing something solely for one event or printing low numbers ready to update when the date expires your brochures will quickly become useless.

Use high res imagery

The images in your brochure are as important as your text (in fact probably more important as although a harsh reality, it’s unlikely that all your copy will be read). You need sharp, striking images that fit with your brand and also they need to be exceptional quality and professionally taken or bought from an image site – your designer can help you with this.

Get diagrams professionally created

If you do need to include diagrams into your brochure to explain a process – make sure it is created by a professional and not generated by an office package. The diagram(s) need to fit with your brand colours and style.

Proof read, proof read, proof read

One proof reader is not enough, at least four people should proof read the finished document before print is committed (one being the designer as they will notice slight things that an untrained eye wouldn’t). A simple mistake within the copy can become very costly at print stage if it is not picked up.

Think about the size and distribution method

There are different ways of distributing your finished brochure but the end distribution needs to be considered in the design process. For example if it will be intended as a postal mailer you may want to opt for a finished size of A5 to keep postage costs down.

You may want to include the brochure with proposals or within a folder, in this case it looks neater to keep all the documents the same size and saves it from getting lost.

Choose a decent paper weight, finish and stock

Depending on your distribution method as above, weight and paper stock is another factor to consider. You want the right stock for the message you are giving. For example a solicitor would have a good thick paper stock to instil trust and quality.

Put readers first

Your readers are your target market/potential clients and need to be considered on all levels within the whole brochure design, flow and look to make it easy on the eye.

Don’t be too wacky

Whilst your brochure needs to shout about your business and get noticed it also needs to be neat and tidy and not too crazy in design so it is easily digested. A good designer will capture this balance perfectly.

If you need any advice with your brochure contact Bunny on design@brandalldesign.com for a no obligation chat.

Its a great day for Business, Easter is around the corner and with all the business antics happening around in Salisbury there is something hot to talk about.
Salisbury Big Business Event is happening at The Guildhall, Salisbury in April for 3 days. Its going to be a fantastic event and there will be many speakers but best of all its FREE with NO SALES PITCHES! For more information have a look at http://www.salisburybigbusiness.co.uk/ Brandall Design is also really happy to be sponsoring the design for the event too.

Thinking about QR codes this morning and how useful they are as a quick reference tool for your business. If you are not sure what a QR is, it is the small black and white patterned square that are appearing everywhere, on packaging, leaflets, advertising, tv and websites. They are quick and easy ways of directing traffic to your site or mentioning a special event you are planning or even a quick way to pass on your contact details on the back of a business card.
If you would like one we can create QR codes at a reasonable cost if you need more information please contact us.

That’s another blog snippet over for now so enjoy the sun and back to work for me.

Have you ever wondered what you could be doing to help your company with its design yourself? The answer will most likely be yes and so we have put together some design snippets to help you with one for every day of the month. Below are some small things for you to put in place for your business that will have an impact for better results with your image.

Make the most of your business cards by making sure they have information about what your business does

Use a bank of colours for your brand and stick to them – they will get recognised as yours

Keep all your material consistent and keep your logo and contact details in the same or similar place

Always have a ‘call to action’ on your marketing material ‘for more information contact us on…’

Create variations of your logo to work on different materials and coloured backgrounds

Your logo needs to work as big as a billboard and as small as a postage stamp

Create mono, white out and single colour versions of your logo

Include a strapline within your brand to help explain more about your business quickly

Keep your advertising simple – busy adverts don’t work

What your business does is more important than your company name

Include a reference or offer on advertising so you know what material is working

Ask any new enquiries how and where they heard about you

Get professional printing as poorly printed material won’t reflect well on your business

For leaflet and advertising design always include a strapline to catch the readers attention, then an intro para

You have 3 seconds to make your advert stand out from the page as a reader scans the page before turning over

An exhibition graphic should have an interesting design with limited text

All design is about impact and being memorable – design sells

Your brand design is the most important aspect of your business image

Brand colours need to reflect and compliment your business

Professional design will grow your image which will grow your revenue

Any material that is given out with your logo on needs to have a message and purpose

Use social media at least once a week to stay in touch and keep your name out there